I should’ve posted this in the previous entry about Cinco de Mayo, but I forgot. I forget oh-so-many things these days!
In any case, it’s never too late to recommend a good book. The following are two of my daughter’s favorites, and just happen to be Latin-themed.
Mañana Iguana, by Ann Whitford Paul and illustrated by Ethan Long
This book is what inspired us to have our own “fiesta” last week. It’s like “The Little Red Hen,” but in the desert. The illustrations are great; so descriptive that Marsy can practically tell the story herself, just by looking at the pictures. It’s one of the select bedtime books that we read almost every night.
Hola Jalapeño, by Amy Wilson Sanger
Hola Jalapeño
I say, hello my chile friend.
Señorita Quesadilla,
cheese is melting out your end…
The artwork in this book is beautiful and I love the rhythm of it. Being Mexican-American, it’s nice to be able to introduce my daughters to vocabulary that we definitely must know but don’t encounter that often.
My only complaint is that it’s too short! This is a small, but sturdy, board-book; I would love to see something similar geared more towards preschoolers on up. Maybe it’s out there, just haven’t found it yet.
Sanger has written an entire series of “World Snack” books. The next one on our to-buy list is the First Book of Sushi! I’ll let you know what I think of that one when the time comes.
*** A big THANK YOU to aunt Margaret for introducing us to “Hola Jalapeño.”
Lastly, this is not a book, but a big hit in baby’s toy box:
LeapFrog Learn & Groove Counting Maracas
Sing, dance, count, and learn your colors, all in one small toy! Of the pair of maracas, one is a basic maraca that just rattles, the other is battery-powered and has 3 modes - numbers, colors, and music. Depending on the mode, each shake of the maraca leads to counting up from 1 to 10 in English or Spanish, or introduces 6 colors, also in both languages. It even lights up, which is absolutely spellbinding to baby in her dim bedroom.
I do warn against leaving these in baby’s crib - I awoke several mornings to loud banging before I was finally smart enough to remove them at night.
I love the volume control option because the music and counting can get annoying after a while. The lowest setting is quiet tolerable. I do tend to tune this kind of “noise” out, but It turns itself off after a few minutes, so no worries. We’ve had it since Christmas and have yet to replace the batteries.
Right now, the only problem we have is that older sis likes the electronic maraca, too. For now I just give baby the other maraca and that appeases her, but I don’t know how much longer she can be fooled!
Last Sunday M&M and I went to the 16th annual National Cinco de Mayo Festival on the grounds of the Washington Monument. I’ve attended this “fiesta” several times and this year was by far the most successful, if I were to judge it by the crowds. Unfortunately, I was disappointed that we didn’t have a good view of the performances nor did Marsy get a chance to do as many crafts as she did last year. It was a beautiful day, and we were able to meet up with some family, so we had a great time nonetheless!
On Monday, we hosted a “Piñata Playgroup” in our backyard. Marsy has no idea that this was a “recycled” piñata from her 1st birthday. Of course only a first-time mom would get one for her baby’s party! What was I thinking? I ended up tossing it into the attic and forgot about it for (almost) 3 years.
It’s incredible how quickly she bonded with the little unicorn. She even named her “Susie”. I was afraid that she’d be upset when Monday came around, but she whacked her just as hard as (if not harder than) the other kids.
We visited the Washington National Cathedral for the first time this past weekend, for Flower Mart 2008.
Although we did get somewhat lost inside the cathedral at one point, we had a blast! I’m surprised at how child-friendly the place is. Even maneuvering the stroller around the grounds wasn’t difficult using the wheelchair-accessible entrances. There’s a parking garage right underneath the cathedral that is free on Sundays and very reasonably-priced the rest of the week. The three of us had so much fun exploring all the cathedral has to offer!
For Flower Mart, there were over 50 booths selling handmade goods and plants.
Marsy’s been fascinated with mint lately, so we bought a small Kentucky mint plant.
Why Kentucky, you ask?
The Kentucky Derby was on Saturday so I thought it was just meant to be!
Tons of activities for kids - rides, crafts, music, etc.
Yummy food, although all we shared was a hot dog, lemonade, and a cupcake.
“My nose tickles, mommy!”
She has quite a unique way of eating a cupcake.
Go check out some of the other photos I took at the cathedral!
Those are the words that Marsy screams out at the top of her lungs when she spies a red envelope peeking out of our mailbox. It’s not always movie night for her, but she gets excited nonetheless.
We do try to have at least two family movie nights a month, though, and just recently added a weekly “Morning Movie with Mommy” while the baby naps. Try saying that three times fast!
I’ve had Netflix for about a year now, and love, love, LOVE IT! What isn’t there to like?
It’s just so convenient. You make a list of movies/tv shows that you want to see. You get your first movie in a day or two. Watch it. Return it in the same envelope. And then you get the next one on your list.
Oh, the vast selection! Sure, you can get a movie out of one of those machines at the grocery store, but the choices you have are laughable. A large portion of what we watch are foreign movies and Netflix has anything you could possibly want. TV shows as well. Right now I’m obsessed with Dexter. Originally I signed up for the service because it was the only place I could find a good assortment of HD-DVDS, which are now obsolete, regrettably.
The queue - it’s so easy. I spend a few minutes once a month or so adding to it and rearranging my choices, then I forget about it. I love not knowing exactly what movie is coming next.
The rating system rocks! I admit that I’m lazy, so getting movies automatically recommended to me based on my likes/dislikes is great.
Unlimited streaming video of 6000+ movies/tv shows. I have a mac (and it’s not yet compatible) so I don’t use it, but having that option could be worthwhile for some people.
The “Community” - much like MySpace or Facebook, you can add friends and see what they are watching at any given time.
With two kids, we don’t go to the movies all that much anymore, so Netflix is really worth it’s weight in gold. Usually the free trial only lasts two weeks, so if you’ve ever thought about joining Netflix do it know and take advantage of an entire month without charge!
Go for it - enjoy a complimentary month of Netflix. You do need a credit card to sign up, but will only be charged if you don’t cancel at the end of the trial period.
** In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that I get one free rental voucher for every referral that signs up (max of 5). No commission or anything like that, though.
May 15, 2008 
Posted in M&M, Product Review 
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